The Best of Little Walter

If there's a blues harmonica player alive today who doesn't have this landmark album in their collection, they're either lying or had their copy stolen by another harmonica player. This 12-song collection is the one that every harmonica player across the board cut their teeth on. All the hits are here: "My Babe," "Blues With a Feeling," "You Better Watch Yourself," "Off the Wall," "Mean Old World," and the instrumental that catapulted him from the sideman chair in Muddy Waters' band to the top of the R&B charts in 1952, "Juke." Walter's influence to this very day is so pervasive over the landscape of the instrument that this collection of singles is truly one of the all-time greatest blues harmonica albums, one of the all-time greatest Chicago blues albums, and one of the first ten albums you should purchase if you're building your blues collection from the ground floor up. ~ Cub Koda

Little Walter -- aka Marion Walter Jacobs -- wasnt the first great harmonica player in the blues, but the instrument had a whole new force and personality after he was done with it. Little Walter was a technically gifted player with a dark, powerful sound, but he also approached the chromatic harmonica in a new way earlier players had not, and by using a microphone and amplifier to power his harp, he created sounds that were fierce, wild, and dramatic. Walter first rose to fame playing with Muddy Waters band, but he also became a solo star, cutting his first hit on his own, "Juke," at the tail end of a Waters session in 1952, and becoming one of the few harp players to make it as a headliner. The Best of Little Walter features 12 songs from Walters years with Chess Records, which remained his recording home from the release of "Juke" until his death in 1968. Selections include "Juke," "Blues with a Feeling," "Sad Hours," "My Babe," and more. ~ Mark Deming